1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power control unit and to a hybrid vehicle comprising such a power control unit.
The present invention claims priority on Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-145009, filed on Jun. 2, 2008, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-145011, filed on Jun. 2, 2008, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
In a semiconductor module comprising a conventional semiconductor chip, when connecting a signal line of the semiconductor module to the semiconductor chip, they are connected by a fine aluminum wire with solder by using wire bonding technology (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-294973).
However, in such a conventional semiconductor module, connections employ wire bonding, so there are problems in that a large amount of space is necessary for wire distribution and a large occupied area must be secured for the semiconductor module.
In addition, the conduction resistance increases due to the fact that a wire is used, so there is a problem in that electrical losses increase. Also, there are problems in that much manufacturing time is required and manufacturing costs mount.
In power control units, the semiconductor elements mounted on electrode plate, and the negative electrode-side wiring conductors and positive electrode-side wiring conductors rising from the semiconductor elements are arranged in opposition. In the opposed arranged negative electrode-side wiring conductors and positive electrode-side wiring conductors, currents flow in opposite directions. Thereby, the parasitic inductance can be reduced by the mutual inductance which counteracts magnetic fluxes by the oppositely-directed magnetic fields arising from these currents (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2005-191233).
However, in the above-described conventional power control unit, sufficient counteracting effect of the magnetic fluxes cannot be obtained only by the mutual inductance which counteracts the magnetic fluxes by the oppositely-directed magnetic fields arising from the opposed arranged negative electrode-side wiring conductors and positive electrode-side wiring conductors. Thereby, there is a problem in that such a configuration cannot be applied to a large-capacity power control unit.